A blog about retro American pop culture from the 1970's through the 1980's.

November 19, 2012

Pop Culture Reunion: Melrose Place

Back in October 2012, Entertainment Weekly ("EW"), a staple of Hollywood reporting (whether it's legitimate news or not) ran a "reunion" issue. Apparently, it was the magazine's third-annual reunion issue. But many of the reunions in the magazine were for shows that haven't even been off the airwaves for a decade, so I wasn't too impressed, but it was free reading in the waiting room, so I didn't complain.

Of course, EW is an actual, printed magazine, so when I browsed that particular issue at the doctors' office while waiting to have my eyes examined, I wondered exactly what the online content for that issue might contain.

EW did not disappoint on that front.

Below is a video clip from EW on a cast reunion for what was arguably one of Aaron Spelling's last big TV hits: "Melrose Place" (the show aired on the Fox television network). I'm aware this show actually aired in the early 1990s, but it's relevant for the audience this show targeted: Gen Xers. "Melrose Place" was designed to be a bit more mature than Mr. Spelling's popular "Beverly Hills 90210" which ran at the same time, which was all about high school kids, not young adults, but in reality, it was a soap opera, not really a sitcom or a drama. "Melrose Place" aimed for young adults who were just starting out. Needless to say, it did well among Gen Xers, many of whom had already finished or had just finished college themselves.

A lot of the cast of Melrose Place haven't disappeared from television. Far from it, two of the cast members starred in ABC's recently wrapped-up sitcom "Desparate Housewives" (namely, Doug Savant and Marcia Cross) which ran for an impressive 8 seasons on ABC. Heather Locklear, who was technically a guest star on Melrose Place, had a lengthy career even before "Melrose Place" and makes occasional guest appearances on TV. Courtney Thorne-Smith is today a regular on "Two and a Half Men" (she's played Alan Harper's love interest for the past few seasons).

In any event, EW (you may find the EW article on the "Melrose Place" reunion HERE) had a video clip that featured ABC News correspondent Amy Robach (who happens to be married to former "Melrose Place" star Andrew Shue) — who sat down with the stars of "Melrose Place" during their recent EW reunion to find out what the cast from that 1990s show have been up to. I'll keep this post brief by including the video below, or you can watch it by visiting http://youtu.be/r5K4eAE5_Lo:

For the record, all seasons of the original "Melrose Place" have been digitized and are therefore available on DVD or streaming via Amazon Prime and possibly others. I'm not aware that the show is currently being rerun anywhere on television (cable or otherwise) right now, but you can definitely rent or stream it on Netflix. The CW tried to reboot "Melrose Place" in 2009, but the reboot never took off, and it was cancelled before the the full season finished its run.